With the release of his latest album Radius, Seattle, WA-based soul singer/songwriter Allen Stone has firmly cemented a burgeoning reputation for crafting uncompromising music that defies pop music conventions — and as a result, not only has the Seattle-based singer/songwriter received attention across the blogosphere, he’s recently been invited to play at Stevie Wonder’s British Summer Time show next week, which will most likely add to a growing international profile. And to celebrate a set of European shows and his addition to the Stevie Wonder show, Stone and his backing band released a video performing a slow-burning, Quiet Storm-soul cover of Goyte’s mega-hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” at Bear Creek Studio that actually possesses a deeper sense of the confusion, heartache, guilt, accusations and bitterness within the song than the original in mind; in fact, when Stone sings the line “you didn’t have to stoop so low,” I guarantee that you’ll feel punched the gut.
Category: Live Footage
Live Footage: Check Out a Gorgeous and Aching, Acoustic Version of “Hurts Like Hell”
Building on the buzz of her critically praised and commercially successful EP Arrows, the Nashville-based singer/songwriter release “Hurts Like Hell, ” last year, and the single was featured on MTV’s Scream. Recently the folks at OurVinyl TV invited Straham in for an acoustic single and the first released bit of footage from that session is a gorgeous and stripped down rendition of “Hurts Like Hell” that features Straham accompanying herself on piano.
Lyrically, the song focuses on the conflicting feelings in the aftermath of a breakup — loss, longing, emptiness, heartache and self doubt, along with the sensations of self-reflection, of finality and of one’s life being altered in ways that are frequently beyond your own control and influence. And if you’ve been through a particularly messy and disastrous breakup the song should feel deeply familiar.
Live Footage: Floating Points Performing on KEXP Radio
Interestingly, as Shepherd announced his tour and the forthcoming release of Kupier, Shepherd released live footage of him and his backing band performing “Silhouettes I, II and III,” “Argente” and “Kupier” in KEXP’s studios last month. Naturally, the live footage should give you a good sense of a live Floating Points set — including as the announced joked a visual display behind the band, which included floating points; but it also should cement Shepherd’s burgeoning reputation as an sonically challenging and inventive composer, whose material also manages to be trippy, expansive and mind-altering while being approachable.
The live session includes a rather revealing interview in which Shepherd discusses the origins of Floating Points, his influences, how he met the members of his backing band and his incredible 10,000 album record collection.
New Video: The Donkeys’ Shoegazer/Psych Rock-Channeling New Single “No Need For Oxygen”
In order to build up buzz for their upcoming cross country tour, which includes an early August stop at Baby’s All Right, The Donkeys released a live video performing their moody and stunningly gorgeous, shoegaze-leaning new single “No Need for Oxygen” which has the band pairing shimmering keyboard and guitar chords, propulsive drumming, a with plaintive and aching vocals in an expansive song structure that owes a debt to classic psych rock as it does to prog rock and held together with an impressive and gorgeous guitar solo.
Check out tour dates below.
Live Footage: Oakland, CA-based Duo Introflirt Return With Another Dark, 80s Inspired Electro Pop Song
Introflirt’s latest single “Orange Light” has them pairing undulating and cascading layers of synths and propulsive drum programming with Benjamin’s crooning and sonically, the song sounds indebted to 80s synth pop — in particular, Depeche Mode, The Human League and New Order but with a modern production sheen. And much like their previously released singles, the duo’s material thematically speaking the song focuses on the fractured psyche of its narrator, a narrator, who seems plagued by an overwhelming sensation of disappointment and frustration, repressed feelings and desires finally bursting out at an inopportune time.
Live Footage: Check Out Kansas City’s The Philistines Performing “Twitch of the Death Nerve”
Comprised of Kimmie Queen (vocals), Cody Wyoming (guitar/vocals), Michelle Bacon (bass/vocals), Steve Gardels (drums), Rod Peal (guitar), and Josh Mobley (keys), Kansas City, MO-based sextet The Philistines formed back in 2013, and since their formation they’ve developed a reputation for a sound that draws from classic stoner rock and psych rock — as the sextet pairs enormous, buzzing power chords, a driving motorik groove, thundering drumming, and an expansive song structure as you’ll hear on “A Twitch of The Death Nerve,” the first single off the sextet’s full-length debut The Backbone of Night, which was released through The Record Machine Records earlier this week.
The band recently performed and shot The Backbone of Night’s lead single at Kansas City’s KCPT’s Studio A — and it was simulcast on The Bridge, 90.9FM. Check out the live footage, folks.
Throwback/Live Footage: Mayer Hawthorne Performs “Mr. Blue Sky” on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic
So strangely enough, while checking out the video, which would wind up comprising this site’s previous post, the related video tab on YouTube brought up live footage of Mayer Hawthorne and backing band playing a breezy cover of ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky,” on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic several years ago and coincidentally, the track appears on Impressions. The internet is a wonderful place, is it not?
Live Footage: Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate Performing “Tokira” on KEXP
Over the last couple of years, Syracuse, NY-born and UK-based singer/songwriter and beatboxer Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate, the Guinea-born kora player have become JOVM mainstay artists for a sound that effortlessly meshes elements of traditional Western […]
Live Footage: Homeboy Sandman Performing “God” at Stones Throw Records’Dungeon
If you’ve been frequenting this site since its inception six years ago, you’d likely be familiar with JOVM mainstay artist, the New York-born and based emcee Homeboy Sandman. Arguably, the New York-based emcee is one […]
Live Footage: Oh Pep! on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts
Comprised of Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, Melbourne, Australia-based electro folk duo Oh, Pep! derive their name from the first names of both members of the act, and they can trace the origins of their collaboration to […]
Live Footage: Samiyam at Stones Throw’s Dungeon Sessions
Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based producer Sam Baker, best known under the moniker Samiyam can trace the moment his musical career truly started in earnest to when he was at a Detroit strip club Platinum, where he encountered a self-described […]
Live Footage: Lenny Kravitz and The Roots Play “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
Last month, The Roots were out in Los Angeles for their tenth annual Roots Jam Sessions — a series of shows that feature the members of The Roots collaborating with an incredibly diverse array of […]
Live Concert Footage: Soul Rebels Brass Band at Brooklyn Bowl 2/27/16
I was with my very lovely and dear friend C to catch The Soul Rebels Brass Band for the third and last night of their three night stay at Brooklyn Bowl — and unsurprisingly, it […]
Live Concert Footage: Soul Rebels Brass Band at Brooklyn Bowl 2/26/16
I was at Brooklyn Bowl last night to catch Soul Rebels Brass Band for an amazing night of brass band funk and hip-hop as they’re about to finish a three night stop that featured Big […]